Flowers in Her Hair
by Livyloozer
Summary: My third 'What if fic', a one-shot based on the episode "Helga and the Nanny". Might be a prequel to a series at some point!


**A/N: Hi peoples! This one-shot just randomly came to me, starting with the poem at the beginning. I figured that I better write it down and see where it takes me. And here we are! Haha. By the way, as mentioned in the description, this is technically my third 'What if fic' and I'm answering the question- "What if Arnold couldn't stop thinking about the time Helga's nanny Inge made her wear that outfit and those flowers in her hair?"**

 **I'M NOT CLAIMING I OWE "HEY ARNOLD!" OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THE SHOW. WHY WOULD I DO THAT? THAT WOULD BE A LIE AND I DON'T TELL LIES. I'M LIKE GEORGE WASHINGTON, EXCEPT THAT I'M…WELL, NOT GEORGE WASHINGTON! XD**

Flowers in Her Hair

 _She had flowers in her hair._

 _And she got angry when I started to stare._

 _She had flowers in her hair._

 _With her fiery personality that's beyond compare._

 _She had flowers in her hair._

 _So nice and sweet, a sight so rare._

 _She had flowers in her hair._

 _Yet she can be so mean, it's so unfair_

 _She had flowers in her hair._

 _Of her, I feel I have become more aware._

 _All because she had flowers in her._

'What did I just write?' Arnold asked himself in disbelief as he stared at another attempt at his poetry homework. His latest draft left him in a state of shock. He had a feeling that just freely writing without giving much thought to what he was doing may not be the best idea, but he was desperate after staring blankly at the clean sheet of notebook paper for the past twenty minutes and coming up with nothing. However, he didn't expect to come up with anything like this.

'This may be my best one yet but this could come at a huge price. If Helga finds out I wrote this about her, she's going to kill me. Not that I'm afraid of her though. However, I don't want to make her feel bad either, though she's done mean stuff to me several times without batting an eye. However, I am not her and I am not the kind of person to seek revenge. I mean, I doubt my poem will be read aloud in class but I'm not taking any chances,' he reasoned with himself.

'Besides, there's one person in class whose poems gets read aloud in front of the class more often than anyone else's…' Arnold continued his internal conversation with himself as he trailed off, pondering something about those particular submissions by that one specific classmate. He knew there was something significant about those poetry submissions and the exact significance was what he was currently trying to remember. Bearing a pensive look on his face, Arnold laid his head down in his arms and on his desk as he racked his brain for the answer.

"That's it!" Arnold exclaimed to himself in realization as he sat up in a jolt after spending the next few minutes trying to remember the importance of those poetry submissions.

'The poems that Mr. Simmons reads to the class all the time are submitted by someone who goes by 'Anonymous', or at least when it concerns their poem being read to the whole class. I honestly don't blame them for that one bit. I'd personally be embarrassed to have my private thoughts read to all our classmates as well, which is partly why I am unsure about doing this. But anyways, that's exactly what I should do, right? Just write 'Anonymous' in case Mr. Simmons reads my poem so Helga will never know it was me…but what if she somehow figures it out? Well, it's either turn this in or come up with another poem about Abner or grandpa and probably get a C...What if I submit two poems, this one and a 'duplicate' so Helga wouldn't suspect me? Wait…can you hear yourself, Arnold? You're starting to sound like Helga, ironic enough. That's just crazy but still…I'm not getting another C…What if I ask Mr. Simmons not to read it out loud and write that on my paper? Yeah, that sounds better,' Arnold concluded this internal debate with a deep sigh. Sometimes, he found it easier to give advice than practicing the things he preached. Not too often, just every once in a while. This appeared to be one of those rare times. He hated having to stoop to this kind of deception but he felt kind of desperate. Poetry was not his best subject and just once, he would like to get something back that was above a C+. It's not like his goal was to intentionally embarrass Helga. The deception was more coincidental at any rate. Besides, he was just tired of getting sub-par grades on his poetry submissions. At any rate, deep down Arnold hoped that if Mr. Simmons did read his poem, then perhaps Helga would finally see that she didn't have to be so mean all the time. It was a long shot, but hey, anything could happen right?

His mind made up, Arnold wrote his name on the paper containing the poem and then wrote 'Anonymous' above it. At the very top of the page, he wrote his request in bold letters about not wanting his poem to be read aloud to the class. He then tore out the page from his notebook, put the paper in his assignment folder, placed both the notebook and folder in his backpack, zipped up his backpack, and then just hoped for the best regarding the next couple of days.

 **A/N: Hoped you liked this random one-shot. I know it's a little out of character but there's no ill feelings attached to Arnold's reason for turning his poem in. Just thought I'd make that clear!**

 **I kind of have an idea for a series and so this will be the prequel. I may or may not continue this. If I do, it'll be a while until I post anything for that. I just started my next story, which I just posted the first chapter for. It's called "They Found Love". Feel free to check it out!**


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